Croatian draft secrecy law needlessly restrictive, says OSCE media freedom representative

VIENNA, 13 April 2007 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, said today that the government-proposed draft law on Data Secrecy in Croatia unnecessarily restricts access to information.

Haraszti presented his comments to the Croatian authorities in a review of the draft law commissioned by his Office.

"The law would open the way to excessive secrecy rather than protect legitimately classified information," said Haraszti. "But it could be revised to guarantee a modern balance of protection and access."

The review established that the current draft provides for overly broad protection for information, allows for a too long period of classification, does not recognise overriding public interest, and offers little oversight.

"I am hopeful that the stakeholders in Croatia will consider the review's comments. This way the law could be part of the trend of improvement in governing secrecy in the OSCE area," added Haraszti.

The Parliament in Zagreb will consider the draft law in the coming weeks.